U.S. Pacific Command forces to come together for exercise Valiant Shield

From U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs

Posted September 6, 2016

In this file photo, ships and aircraft operate in formation over the Pacific Ocean during exercise Valiant Shield 2014. (U.S. Navy/MC1 Trevor Welsh)

PEARL HARBOR - Forces from the U.S. Pacific Command are scheduled to participate in exercise Valiant Shield (VS) 2016, Sept. 12-23 on Guam and around the Marianas Island Range Complex.

Participants include USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), nine surface ships, the Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group - to include three amphibious vessels - an estimated 18,000 personnel and more than 180 aircraft from the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

Valiant Shield is a U.S.-only, biennial field training exercise (FTX) with a focus on integration of joint training in a blue-water environment among U.S. forces. This training enables real-world proficiency in sustaining joint forces through detecting, locating, tracking and engaging units at sea, in the air, on land, and in cyberspace in response to a range of mission areas.

The participating forces will exercise a wide range of capabilities and demonstrate the inherent flexibility of joint forces. The range of capabilities include maritime security operations, anti-submarine and air defense exercises, amphibious operations, and other elements of complex warfighting.

The lessons learned from exercises like VS16 will assist U.S. forces in continuing to develop regional and global power projection capabilities that provide a full range of options to succeed in defense of its interests and those of its allies and partners around the world.

The VS series is aimed at developing a “pre-integrated” joint force built from habitual relationships. This force builds interoperable and complementary cross-domain capabilities and benefits from realistic, shared training enhancing the flexibility to develop new tactics, techniques, and procedures as operational conditions dictate. Such forces will provide the deterrence and stabilizing effects of a force-in-being, ready at the outset of a contingency without delays for buildups or extensive mission rehearsal.

This is the sixth exercise in the Valiant Shield series that began in 2006.

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